Transfer Rumours Tosh, goss 'n twaddle - Summer 2020

Saliba looks good , he cost Arsenal £27m and just missed out on a loan to France , Brentford look the most likely but he would be a class loan .

 

My post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I agree with you, Rick, that we need a a replacement CB who we know is dependable at this level.

 

City are interested in a permanent deal for ManC CB Joel Latibeaudiere. 20 years old. reading are also interested.

 

He's only 5' 11" but also plays RB. I like CB's to be at least 6' 2". When opponents look to cross I want them to see a forest, not shrubbery.

 

The Pinkun says we're not interested in
Latibeaudiere, but DF may "fast track Republic of Ireland youth international Andrew Omobamidele into his first team set up" instead:

https://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city...-joel-latibeaudiere-manchester-city-1-6875350

 

Happy if AO is fast-tracked. We still need a fifth CB, I think. One with experience.

 

How high a player can get up to head a ball is not a simple function of the player's height. Ron Davies, the best header of the ball ever to play for Norwich, was only 6'0" but regularly out jumped defenders taller than himself. Conversely, over the last three seasons, Zimmermann, Klose, Hanley and Godfrey have all been regularly out jumped by smaller players at set pieces. Stiepermann is one of our tallest players; is he noticeably among our best set piece defenders or attackers?

 

Some people have springs in their legs. Mostly it's about positioning and timing with a taller player having a "head" start, other things being equal. I've said more than once on here that Klose doesn't know how to jump. He tries to jump while leaning backwards. My post, however, addressed what the crosser is able to see and does he have confidence in trying to make the cross.

 

Young Man City lad CB is in the news as being on our radar despite what the Pink’Un states. Reading also interested. This could prove a problem for NCFC as Reading are presently top of Championship so will probably seem a better destination for him.

 

You seem to be assuming that crossing is an effective weapon ("cross" for this purpose meaning a pass played from wide into a central attacking area). It is actually relatively ineffective, which is why so many teams, including ourselves, standardly prefer inverted wingers. A Soccerment analysis of crossing in Europe's 5 top leagues showed that fewer than 1 in 4 crosses are "successful", i.e. reach a team mate, and fewer than 2% of crosses result in goals; on average it takes 64 crosses to produce a goal. Rather than discouraging opponents from crossing, teams do better by encouraging them to cross and surrender possession in the process.

 

Cammers!

 

Good signing for the Dons

 

It would appear that the young Man City CB is still being touted as a replacement for Timm Klose Just read this news on Newsnow website.

 

That's a nice stat you found, Robbie. So why do you suppose that CB's tend to be the tallest players on the field? Does football have it wrong?

 

Can somebody explain what is going on with the possible Cantwell transfer? This seems to have been running and running for 3 weeks.

 

Partly a question of slowness to adapt (how many top teams play Andy Carrolls or Peter Crouches at CF nowadays?) You don't need to be 6' 4" to mark a Teemu Pukki or an Ollie Watkins; pace, positioning and reading the game are far more important than sheer height. However, my post was prompted by your specifically tying height to dealing with crosses; defenders also have to deal with set pieces, and they are considerably more dangerous than crosses. Even then, as we've often lamented, ability to jump high is more important than physical height as such.

 

The latest seems to be the rumour that Leeds have 'perhaps' put in a bid of £15m but SW is sticking to his at least £20m pricetag and Leeds have therefore lost interest.

 

One of the best Central Defenders I've ever seen was Roy Mcfarland,Derby County and England who was only 5ft11in.
His partnership with Colin Todd was probably the best pairing of defenders I've seen.
Good defending is all about positioning and reading the game.
Big gangly defenders and attackers are usually slow and cumbersome.Give me quick and agile every time.

 

Certainly height is only one factor and "pace, positioning and reading the game" are key factors, but so is physical strength. Often we've seen Lewis and others shoved aside at corners. This is partly why Skipp, Sorenson and Gibson have been brought in. Hanley is less good at playing out from the back, but people forget that he's one of our fastest players and he is still able to hold his own physically with strikers and, more importantly, with opposing CBs at set pieces, where height and physicality can be very crucial.

 

If Cantwell stays will he be mentally ready to play for a club he clearly wants to leave?